Staveley and her PCP Capital Partners Ltd saw their first bid for the Magpies turned down last month, but remain in discussions with Ashley and St James’ Holdings about purchasing United.

Ashley’s lawyer initially stated back in October when the club was first officially placed up for sale that the Newcastle owner wanted a deal to be completed by Christmas, though such a timeframe now appears highly unlikely.

The unresolved situation over the long-term ownership of the club has left Benitez facing an uncertain January window, with the Newcastle manager as-of-yet unsure as to how much money he will be able to invest.

And Benitez has warned Ashley that funds need to be made available to strengthen the squad, otherwise the club’s valuation could decrease if United drop further towards the relegation zone.

Rafa Benitez has warned Mike Ashley he'll have to put his hand in his pocket during the January transfer window if he wants the best sale price for the club (Image: Newcastle Chronicle)

“At any football club in the world, the value depends on the first team. What you are doing on the pitch,” Benitez, whose side have won just once in 10 matches and have fallen down to 15th in the Premier League, said ahead of the Magpies’ 125th-anniversary clash against Leicester City on Saturday.

“You can put everything around and that’s fine, but if you are in the Premier League and doing well it is easier. If you are in the Premier League and things are not going well it is more difficult and if you are in the Championship it has less value.

“That is so simple. For any club in the world, it depends on the performance of the first team. And then you have to be sure that the first team is doing well.

“It is very simple. You have to be sure that your team is strong enough to stay in the Premier League.”

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Pressed on whether that was his message to Ashley, Benitez response was unequivocal.

“That has been my message from the beginning of the season,” he responded.

“We have a very good group of players who are working very hard, but always you need players and you have to adjust things, because normally you can see if something is wrong then it is now that you can fix things.

“I think he’s [Ashley is] a businessman. A businessman will have a clear idea about what he needs to do with his business to improve his business and then it will be much better.

“I think he wants to win because it’s good for him, so he will try to do that. Hopefully we can do what we have to do and I will be positive after January.”

Newcastle spent the best part of £40million on players during the summer window, but also recouped more than a quarter of that in sales - as well as ensuring big earners such as Siem de Jong were moved on.

Benitez agreed to a three-window transfer budget with Ashley when the pair met face to face last May, and the Spaniard is adamant he should still have funds available.

As a result, he is challenging managing director Lee Charnley - who is the Spaniard’s day-to-day contact at the club, given Ashley’s hands-off approach to running United - to clarify what figure he can spend next month.

“What I said before is what I know. I will have a meeting and I will ask the questions and we will see where we are. But at the moment, I don’t know,” Benitez added.

“I want someone to write the cheques, that is good enough. I’ll be happy with that. I don’t know if someone will write the cheques.

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“For me it doesn’t change anything in terms of how we scout the players. I need to know where we are.

“Lee Charnley, at the moment, I have to talk to him. We will sit down, we will talk about what we have and what we need and what we have in terms of money in the summer and what we did not spend and we have to now.

“I think it’s obvious that we have some positions that we have to reinforce, but I’m confident we can stay up. But we need help in some positions because as soon as we have some injuries then we have problems winning games.”

Asked if he was confident the money he did not spend in the summer could be invested next month, Benitez replied: “I hope so.”

Then pushed on whether there was money available, his response was exactly the same: “I hope so.”